A LEADING councillor claims promises to employ Warrington residents on the landmark Orford park project have been broken.

Orford Clr Mike Hannon has criticised the council and contractor Galliford Try for failing to follow through on pledges made before planning permission was granted for the multi-million-pound development.

He says Galliford Try and the executive board agreed jobs would be found on site for labourers from Warrington who are currently unemployed. This would have been broken down into target groups, including jobless teenagers and long-term unemployed adults, he says.

Clr Hannon said: “I don’t believe the contractor or the council are complying with these obligations.

“A very small percentage of people who live in the Warrington postcode work on that site, which goes against the spirit of the planning permission.

“The council is saying there are more people employed from Warrington, but that’s poppycock.”

Clr Hannon believes that employing residents would give them ‘ownership’ of the £30 million sport and leisure facility that is meant to leave a lasting legacy for Orford.

But council leader Ian Marks says conditions to guarantee jobs for the unemployed were never made.

He said: “Seeking to maximise possibilities for local employment is as robust as we can expect within the planning policy framework.

“We do not have a sliding scale of how many jobs must be made available for unemployed people, and have never specified numbers in a planning condition.”

He added: “Galliford are more than complying with their obligations and want to ensure that Orford Park is a real legacy for Orford and Warrington.”

A Galliford Try spokesman said: “We are fully committed to providing employment and training opportunities for local people in Warrington through the construction of Orford Park.

“We are fully complying with the planning conditions in terms of the provision of local labour, and are exceeding the council’s targets agreed in the employment scheme for the project.”